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I had my daughter 8 years ago and she was a calm, happy baby.

I would watch those newborn shows with babies who were crying within the first few days (or first few hours) and I would think it was so strange. My daughter would fuss, but would never get into an all out crying fit. Now, before you totally hate me, I’ll fast forward to 23 months later.It was August of 2007 and my son was born. And wow – was he BORN! I would change his diaper, he would scream. I would change his clothes, he would scream. Nothing would happen (that I was aware of anyway, I guess something was happening to him), and he would scream! The nurses would come into the room to make sure everything was okay with him. He would also scream when put in his car seat, which prompted my nurse to give me a big hug the day I was leaving the hospital and encourage me to call someone if I needed someone to talk to.

It didn’t get any better when we got home.

When he was awake, he was often cranky, if he slept, it was not for long. He’d be up multiple times during the night. I never knew when he’d be up, and for how long he would be up for. In fact, while getting ready to write this, I found a night waking log when he was 6 months old. He was up 9 times during one of the nights I was logging for, the longest stretch of sleep he had was 3 hours and 30 minutes.

It is funny even now when I think about that time I can remember some feelings, like the feeling in the pit of my stomach when I would hear his pacifier fall out in the night. I would know that it would not be long before he was awake again. I can also remember not even wanting to go to sleep since I knew it would not be for long and it was so much harder to get back up once falling asleep.

I did buy some books about sleep training, but I was so tired, the thought of doing any training, when I knew I’d actually get less sleep in the short run, was not at all appealing. I tried a few things, but now I know I was not consistent with anything long enough to make a real change. I also tried some things people usually say do not work, but I figured I’d give them a try anyway. So I switched over to formula at night. That did not help, so then I added rice cereal to his bottles. That also did not work, and I was so frustrated one night I actually put so much cereal in that I clogged up the nipple of the bottle!

So, the sleeplessness continued . . .

When my son was a little over 3, a well known sleep specialist by the name of Kim West, aka The Sleep Lady ® opened her own program training sleep coaches. I had been working with children in a Montessori school, but was looking for a change, and I majored in Psychology in college, so I thought, “why not”?

At that point I decided to get my son’s sleeping under control (yes, that’s right – I waited over 3 years!). It was not nearly as bad as it had been – he’d wake from 1 – 3 times a night to be covered up and get a quick hug. But, in those 3 plus years, I had almost never had a complete night sleep. Luckily for me, he knew how to fall asleep on his own so we created a sticker chart which tracked a couple of key things I needed him to do, the most important being “Put yourself back to sleep at night”. We added a special reward at the end of the week – a matchbox car, and within a couple of weeks he was sleeping all night long!

It still took me awhile to be able to actually sleep all night without waking in the middle of the night wondering if he was okay, but eventually it all worked out and we were all sleeping, until I adopted a 7 week old puppy and that was the end of that for a few weeks. Fortunately though, sleep training a puppy is much easier than sleep training a child!

Now I am lucky enough to be able to work with other parents who are going through what I went through for so long. I love doing what I am doing, I work closely with the parents and create a plan that fits with their child and their philosophies, so not only am I helping them sleep, I am doing it while not compromising their values.-By Micelle WintersSleepWell Sleep Solutions

Here is where you can find Michelle:

I have had eczema since I was a child and have constantly struggled to find products that would work for my sensitive skin. Later in my teenage years a dermatologist told me that the best I could do was to keep moisturizing my skin because there is no cure and no one is sure of the cause. As a result I began researching the ingredients that would most benefit my skin type and the ones to avoid when buying skin products. I live in the Northeast and the winter of 2010 was quite harsh. My skin became so dry, cracked and itchy I decided to take hands on approach to my skin care needs. I started researching how different body products were made by reading different blogs, watching lots of videos and checking out books out of my local library. I was amazed at all the things I could make but decided to focus on body butters and soaps.

Soap making instantly captivated me. It is such a creative and exciting process. The number of ingredients you can use are really endless! It is such a fun medium to work in. And most importantly I can choose exactly what I want to be in my products. I use vegetable oils and butters, minerals, herbs and other skin loving ingredients to create small batches of handmade soaps.

I mostly use the cold processed method of soap making. In the basic process I mix vegetable oils and butters with a sodium hydroxide solution. The solution is most often made with water but I also use other liquids such as goat’s milk, vegetable purees and fruit purees. Clays, herbs and minerals are then added for their color and their beneficial properties to the skin. The last ingredients I usually add are plant extracts, vitamin e and the fragrance or essential oil.

I get inspired a lot by different types of foods, mainly baked goods. Many of my soaps also contain edible ingredients such as beer, oatmeal, dehydrated orange slices and honey. I am planning on making a margarita themed soap that will contain Dead Sea salt and lime essential oil.

I also choose ingredients based on the properties I want my soaps to have. An example is the oatmeal milk and honey soaps I formulated for gentle cleansing and moisturizing. They contain fine ground oatmeal for gentle exfoliation and soothing inflammation, honey and goat’s milk for moisturizing the skin and oils including coconut, olive, vitamin e and shea butter. Many times people will suggest I try a fragrance they love or an ingredient I have never thought of before. Other times I get inspired when people will ask if I have soaps the can use because they have a nut allergy or a specific need that have not been met with commercial products. I am constantly inspired by the online soap making community. It amazes me how creative, supportive and generous the people in the soap making community are. There is a constant learning environment where everyone shares insights on how to make our products and industry better.

I got my American Girl doll.

That was nearly 20 years ago, which in itself sounds crazy!

I got Samantha for my 5th birthday and I remember being really excited. I don't recall them being popular back then, I was the only person I knew who had one for a little while. It's not like now where little girls have one, or even more. They can create dolls who look just like them and bring them to a salon for even more fun.

Those kinds of things weren't around when I had gotten Samantha, instead I would bring the salon to her at home. I would constantly find myself playing with her hair, giving her new hair styles. I even learned how to do a french braid on her!

She was always getting a wardrobe change too. On holidays, I put her in her best dresses so she could be fancy for the rest of us! During play dates, my friends would bring their American Girls and their clothes and we'd lay them out on couches and tables, pretending our dolls were shopping.

It was always so much fun, making up stories and games; who needed TV?

I used to nanny part time for 2 little girls who had their own American Girl dolls. It was so refreshing to watch them make up stories and adventures; use their imagination. In a time where you can plop your kids in front of the TV or computer, to occupy them for hours at a time, I'm impressed by kids who know how to just play. I think American Girl dolls help keep imagination alive.

I was excited when my sister gave me the idea to make American Girl doll tutus! They're so fun and it's a great way to transform a doll into a dancer, or maybe just a girl with a fun sense of fashion! I think it's a great way to let the imagination run wild.

They're classic & timeless dolls. It's been 19 years since I've had Samantha and I plan on keeping her for the next 19 years. She's still in great condition (and is a great tutu model when I need her!) and I hope when the day comes that I start a family of my own, I'll pass her down for my kids to enjoy.

What toys do you remember having when you were a kid that you loved to play with?

Ever since I was young, I was always into the dealings of business. It stemmed from my parents I’m sure, but I was enthusiastic about selling fudge for little league and candy for Christmas, pawned off from school. When I reached high school I took up a hobby that would develop into more than just a hobby, or even a business, but a passion. I started playing guitar when I was 13, learning classical. I was bored soon off and almost quit, until I found a song by Led Zeppelin (Black Dog) that I wanted to learn.

From then on, I play about an hour a day, at least, for 10 years. College arrived and I entered the music scene, as a quiet, acoustic guitarist, one of the hundreds that could play Why Georgia, Crash into me, and every other Dave song ever written. I’ve never had a good voice, something I always saw as a dent in the fabric of what I could be as a musician if I could sing. I would play repetitive verses of our favorite songs as everyone would crowd around and sing. I was slightly unique in that I learned to pick with my fingers instead of a pick; I never used a pick. I grew my nails out on my right hand, a feature that gave me lots of strange looks over the years.

One day I saw a senior play a song called Phfunkdified by Justin King, at an underground music club at school. I was mesmerized. That was my introduction to Tap Guitar. It was a song that required no words, it was funky, entrancing, sounded amazing and most of all, it looked so cool. I went home and tried to learn to with no avail. A year later, the same song was played again and send me running back to my room to learn. This time I discovered many other artists within the percussive guitar genre that played the most aesthetically astonishing songs, music boundless by the instrument it was performed on. I found a niche.

I dedicated hours upon hours to learning all sorts of songs, and techniques to the instrument that never had occurred to me. A few years later I would meet a friend who offered to record me in his studio, and I would produce two albums. My music has progressed through the years, and evolved, maturing from the sing-a-longs (Don’t worry, I still do those), to lap-style songs that few people have ever seen performed.

My newest album, dropping in the end of December, is called “If Kids were Kings”. I’ve been writing it for three years, with a healthy amount of material coming from my last year in college. The songs range from quiet slower songs straightforward, with one acoustic guitar like G# and Between God and Grace, to erratic structured songs like the lap style Reflections, with an added Violin. I was able to fund the project by releasing it on Kickstarter and asking for a few thousand dollars to print it, and master it. I was pleasantly surprised when it was overfunded by 40% yielding $5,000.

I had always thought it would just be a hobby. I was a terrible singer after all, and I didn’t think it would ever have been possible to play dozens of gigs, release two albums and fund a project from over a hundred strangers. My voice it turned out, was my greatest asset in music because it pushed me from the ordinary singer-songwriter, into a unique tap guitar musician. My hobby, my business, my passion.

Author

My name is Kristina and I'm the founder of Love Struck. Read about how Love Struck came to be, see how I make it happen or just read a random thought I just might have! Anything can happen at our blog & I wouldn't have it any other way! It's time to get Love Struck, and what better way to start than right here!